Hingis on different planet than Venus

Martina Hingis underlined her position as the undisputed Queen of the Teens on the Centre Court of Roland Garros yesterday when she reached the semi-finals of the French Open with a compelling 6-3, 6-4 victory over Venus Williams.

These two 17-year-olds are currently rated the hottest properties in tennis, with the American striving to displace the Swiss at the top of the women's game.

The anticipation and tension were immense, with the packed Parisian crowd all too aware that they might be about to witness a shift of balance at the top. A win for Williams and the sublime reign of Hingis as the world's number one would have been seen as under direct and immediate threat.

This was power versus craft; severity versus subtlety. Intermittently Williams hit winners of astonishing velocity and on occasions she served at well over 100 mph, but Hingis was a picture of composed excellence, one miserable first-set service game excepted.

Hingis will tomorrow play Monica Seles, the former three-times French Open champion, for a place in Saturday's final. Seles, whose father Karolj died of stomach cancer three weeks ago, discovered something of her relentless form of old to defeat Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and is clearly running high on emotion.

A year ago Hingis lost the final when Croatia's Iva Majoli ran her ragged. Hingis was still recovering from a riding accident at the time, and not fully fit, but Majoli provided a template for those hoping to beat the little Swiss wonder.

Williams immediately began to move Hingis from side to side and threatened to break her opening service game. Significantly Hingis held firm and then took a 3-0 lead with the American displaying clear signs of nerves.

An excruciatingly poor service game by Hingis, including two double faults, saw Williams close to 3-2 and animate a somewhat subdued crowd. Maybe they had simply over-lunched, which is a regular hazard at these championships.

If Williams had hoped Hingis would now be similarly sleepy she was to be disappointed. A misjudgement by the American, allowing a Hingis cross-court shot to drop in, and then a stunning backhand pass, saw the number one re-establish a two-game lead, and run away with the first set.

A gusty wind did not help Williams's cause and two double faults midway through the second set saw Hingis make the decisive break. With Hingis about to serve for the match, Williams took a bathroom break, which are fast becoming the bane of the game, and clearly being abused by certain players.

"It did not bother me," said Hingis. "It allowed me to relax while she had to walk there and back, which might have tired her." A backhand error by Williams saw Hingis leaving the court clutching a white rose handed to her by a fan.

In tomorrow's other semi-final Lindsay Davenport of the US will play Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. The Spaniard, twice champion here, defeated another Swiss player, Patty Schnyder, 6-2, 6-7, 6-0, while Davenport knocked out Majoli, the reigning champion, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.

In the men's championship, Chile's Marcelo Rios, the only top10 player to survive into the second week, was sent spinning to a 6-1, 26, 6-2, 6-4 defeat by Spain's Carlos Moya, the number 12 seed.

Last year there was talk of the Spaniards, almost unbeatable on the men's clay-court circuit, transferring their dominance en masse to this tournament. It did not work out that way, although Sergi Bruguera reached the final only to lose to Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten.

This time the sails of the armada are set full square. Moya will play his compatriot Felix Mantilla in Friday's semi-final, while today Alex Corretja attempts to make the last four against Belgium's Filip Dewulf.

Yesterday's other quarter-final between Mantilla and Thomas Muster, the champion in 1995, was expected to be a huge battle of attrition but the Austrian no longer has enough gas in the tank to carry him through the two weeks of a Grand Slam and he lost 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Five-times French Open champion Steffi Graf, who has played only two tournaments in the past 12 months because of injuries, will drop out of the WTA rankings next Monday for the first time since January 1983.

Quarter-Finals Women's singles: (1) M Hingis (Swi) bt (8) V Williams (US) 6-3 6-4, (2) L Davenport (US) bt (10) I Majoli (Cro) 6-1 5-7 6-3, (4) A Sanchez Vicario (Spa) bt P Schnyder (Swi) 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-0, (6) M Seles (US) bt (3) J Novotna (Cze) 4-6 6-3 6-3 Men's singles: (15) F Mantilla (Spa) bt T Muster (Aut) 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-3.

Persistent rain ruled out play on the opening day of the International ATP event scheduled to start at Riverview yesterday. The organisers are tied to the International Tennis Federation ruling that makes outdoor play compulsory at the outset. Should the bad weather conditions persist today, however, indoor play would then be permissible.